Horsemint is a wildflower that is common around here. There are currently quite a few of them growing up among the thistles and firewheels and I see a lot of them on my walks through the park. I can’t resist taking a few photos of them, and you will see them if you keep reading.
Along the path at the park I usually walk there are plenty of these, mostly in the sunniest areas. The purple really stands out amid the other colors. Below is a horsemint that shot in the late afternoon. You can see how it is entirely lit with warm light from only the western side.
There was also a busy little bee on a thistle that I stopped and shot photos of. It was pretty breezy and a bit difficult to keep focus, but I took a lot of photos and this one was probably the sharpest and the bee isn’t buried head-first in the flower.
I tried to get a photo, with the expired thistle balls sort of blurry in the background for decoration and I like the way this turned out. I actually took this from quite a distance at maximum zoom, which helps to keep the background from getting too blurry.
If you shoot close to the flower, the depth of focus is reduced and the background quickly blurs away to a smear of colors (see below). This is nice for subject isolation. So there are different ways to shoot a subject depending on what you want.
And I saw a rabbit that seemed to have a damaged ear. He sat there chewing on some grass and let me photograph him in the evening sun.
Thanks for reading.
Jason Frels 
Seems you have a lot of beautiful flowers in Texas. Is horsemint an herb you can use when your breath smells like a horse?
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I always thought it was for the horse.
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Whoops. I replied to this in the wrong spot.
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I knew what you mint
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I was just horsing around.
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I’ve read that in the old days, when many folks had everyday contact with horses, the scent of horsemints reminded people of the odor of wet horses. That’s supposedly how the flower got its common name.
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Perhaps stallions have found it useful.
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Horse mint is another flower I never heard of, you seem to have a lot of unique ones. Its pretty! The picture of Thumper though is my favorite. 🙂
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You prolly have a lot of flowers where you live that I don’t ever see.
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Yes, we do! Guess now I will have to take some pics, though they probably won’t turn out as good as yours! 🙂
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There is a guy that lives around Austin who has a blog that I follow.
https://portraitsofwildflowers.wordpress.com/
He knows a lot about the local wildflowers and I have learned a lot from reading his blog.
I recognize a lot of places in his pictures as I also go there for hiking and shooting, though I have never met him as far as I know.
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Thanks, will visit his blog. I have always loved flowers. Grew up with them always around me for my Mom basically had a greenhouse in our house. LOL! She planted flowers outside too. Sadly she did not pass on her “green thumb” to me! Flowers come to my house and die! Though so far the flowers on my porch are still alive much to the surprise of my family.
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My eyes popped open at 5:10 this morning, so I got up and went to see if I could have a good sunrise and then hiked among the wildflowers. Then I got home and drank a pot of coffee and edited my photos. So, I am happy.
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I would need a pot of coffee BEFORE going on the hike. 🙂 Does sound like a great way to spend the morning though!
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I am an early bird. Once I get up and get going, I never wish I had stayed in bed and slept in.
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You are like my husband. He hits the ground running. I am more of a earlybird than I used to be but….when you are a nightowl its hard to be both! 🙂
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Well, at least you’re some kind of bird.
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In my household, I am often the only one out of bed before noon, so I get half the day in solitude and coffee. Most days that means working at my desk, but on Saturdays it can be whatever I want.
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Solitude is nice!
I may not be an early bird but I am out of bed way before noon! 🙂
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I seriously need to buy myself a camera. I love your photos, they are so full of color and the clarity is amazing. I didn’t know horsemint existed, but it’s beautiful, as is the little guy chomping away.
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Careful. You might start spending your free time wandering around shooting photos.
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I shot this with a Nikon Z50 and did spend some time with the images in Lightroom. I didn’t have the camera set to make its own JPGs so I don’t have the out-of-the -camera pictures to directly compare. But I didn’t do much editing. Maybe boost the vibrance a little and bring up the shadows a little.
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Well other than the camera, you have a good eye for color and subject matter Jason.
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You did a good job suppressing the background beyond the horsemint in the picture right before the rabbit.
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